A migrant mother explains why she risked death to cross the English Channel in a dinghy with her baby girl

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Mom Najma Ahmadi pleads with the government to offer refugees the chance for a better life - without having to put themselves in the hands of callous smugglers

On the right, Mohammad, Najma and Majla in England after their ordeal and on the left, Majla when he was born in Greece

A terrified mother who clung to her one-year-old daughter as the family risked her life on a hellish Channel crossing has spoken out after four migrants died in a boat.

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Najma Ahmadi pleads with the government to offer refugees the chance for a better life - without having to put themselves in the hands of callous smugglers.

His plea came just a week after the refugees were killed crossing the icy English Channel in a migrant boat.

She said: 'When I heard about the deaths I thought it might have been me. The sea doesn't mess with anyone - you can drown at any time.

"People crossing the English Channel make a choice: on one side, death and on the other, a better life.

"I don't want other refugees looking for a better life to go through what I went through. Everyone should have a safe chance at a better life."

Migrants rescued from a capsized boat that sank in the middle of the English Channel earlier this month (

Picture:

Sky News)

Afghan Najma and her family, members of the persecuted Hazara community, fled the Taliban.

Grateful Najma, her husband Mohammad, both 38, son Maisam, 12, and daughter Majla, two, are spending their second Christmas here - living in a south London hotel and dependent on the charity to be able to afford gifts and decorations.< /p>

They are Muslims but hope to celebrate Christmas by exchanging gifts and planting a tree.

And while their future remains...